2006-12-11 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission Minutes

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OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL'S REPORT Ms. Self stated the resolution to prioritize the lands was discussed at the Council meeting on Nov. 29, 2006. Ms. Self stated Mr. Yada, Mr. Takaba and herself were called up for discussion with the Council regarding the need for some sort of order when purchasing lands. They tried to emphasize to the Council that the code now doesn't require them to purchase lands on this Commission's list. Ms. Self stated she advised the Council that they should keep in mind the hard work that the Commission puts into making the list and that the Commission would like the Council to make their list based on the Commission's list. Ms. Self stated she got the feeling that the Council wanted help in doing this. Ms. Self stated they would have to add the funding part anyway and they would have to determine when the money will get put into the fund. Mr. Yada stated one of the key things was, knowing how much money would be in the fund and when it would be there. It gives stability to the process. Mr. Yada stated the most concerning thing about the Council meeting was there were questions about why there wasn't a property supporting this district on the list. Mr. Yada even though he wasn't here when the first list was made, the first three or four properties on the list wasn't necessarily based on whose district it was. Mr. Kaneshiro stated what the councilman said was he noticed 3 of the 4 on the list came out of Holschuh's district. Mr. Kaneshiro stated this had nothing to do with district. Ms. Self stated another thing that came up was, out of the 4 properties they prioritized, one property wasn't on the list. Ms. Self stated the bill Council member Stay Higa introduced didn't say the funding should come out of this Commission's fund. The actual bill said that any available funds. Mr. Campbell asked if what they were asking for was more of the Commissioner's to attend the public meetings or did they want to be able to contact the Commissioner's individually. Mr. Yada stated his sense was that some of the Council people didn't really understand the process itself. If they were educated about the process this Commission went through in preparing the list, some of their comments /questions wouldn't come up. Ms. Self stated it should be mentioned the way Council member Stacy Higa presented his bill for the purchase of Honoli`i to the Council, he stressed the urgency was that it was for sale and there was only a limited window of opportunity to purchase the property. Ms. Self stated in her discussion with Mr. Yada, it may not be a good thing to use this as a reason for making a property a priority. Mr. Yada stated there are certain legal requirements that we all would need to go through depending on the property being purchased. Even if the County is a lot smaller, it still takes time for the process for purchasing. Mr. Yada stated that will always be a challenge 5